Hate Crimes in Toronto Courtesy of 'Pro-Hamas' Protests

"There is no logic as to the choice of this location other than the large local Jewish population."

"This appears to me to be a refusal by the city of Toronto to enforce existing laws."

Member of Parliament, Liberal Anthony Housefather

"The targeting of the Avenue Road overpass in north Toronto by the anti-Israel mob is far from random."

"[It is an attempt] to intimidate the local Jewish community."

Michael Levitt, head, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center

Graffiti reading 'Free Palestine' was left on the rear doors of a Jewish grocer in North York after an early morning fire there on Wednesday. Toronto police says its hate crime unit is investigating the incident. (CBC)

Anti-Israel, Jew-hating demonstrators masquerading as 'pro-Palestinian' demonstrators in Toronto have hit upon a scheme to make it quite clear that the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza is a mere distraction for them; their demonstrative target is not Israel, defending itself from the savagery of the terrorist group Hamas for whom the demonstrators have the greatest admiration, but the Jewish population that has called Canada home for centuries. 

 

The relatively newly-arrived Palestinians and other Arab Muslims who now call Canada their home have failed to integrate into the social culture of a country celebrating itself as a multicultural haven that incorporates equality and human rights into its foundational values, but has chosen instead to nurture the enmities of tribal and religious disparities focusing on a single target: Jews whom they despise as usurpers of 'Palestinian' land. Land which as the original Palestinians, Jews inherited as ancestral rights.

 

The focus of these 'demonstrators' has been an overpass over Highway 401, that dissects the city of Toronto. Muslim prayer services have been led by men wearing keffiyehs, in the roads approaching the bridge. Palestinian flag-carrying crowds armed with placards comparing Zionism to fascism blockade streets and intersections around the overpass. Red and green smoke bombs are set off by the demonstrators, along with a steady noise of honking and chants of 'Free, free Palestine!'

 

Obligingly, Toronto Police Services dispatch officers to assist in the daily closures of the bridge for the purpose, the public is informed, to preserve the safety of 'demonstrators' and 'counter-demonstrators'. "Due to public safety concerns, the Avenue Road Bridge will be closed", the Toronto Police update read. The overpass is one of over a dozen such bridges over the 401 highway.The anti-Israel protest was set up in the midst of the Canadian Jewish community.

 

The only action taken by police was to temporarily apprehend a 58-year-old woman with an Israeli flag, reportedly seen on camera to be making a gesture of throat-slitting. Summarily arrested and charged with "Uttering Threats/Death or Bodily Harm". Needless to say, none of the anti-Israel crowd shouting the slogan "From the river to the sea", "gas the Jews!", or any other such tender expressions of regard have been arrested and charged with spreading hate. 

A five-minute drive from the shuttered Avenue Road Bridge is the location of over a dozen synagogues in Canada's centre of the Jewish community. It's where a dense concentration of Jewish bakeries are located, along with restaurants and shops catering to traditional Jewish cultural tastes. Elie Wiesel Park, named after famed author and Holocaust survivor, is located a kilometre from the bridge. The pro-Hamas demonstrators are not situating themselves in the heart of Toronto's Jewish community because they so admire Jews, but to mercilessly harass them.

Shouldn't all this be illegal? Hate-mongering, so to speak. Threatening, taunting, slandering. Coordination of the demonstrations have been arranged by a group called Palesign, working together with another group, Toronto4Palestine, a regular organizer of the anti-Israel blockades and street demonstrations that have dominated the news and people's aggravated tensions, since the October 7 attacks in Israel when Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Palestinian civilians signalled they were protesting their 'oppression' by rape, torture, mutilation and mass slaughter of Israeli infants, girls and entire families.

"Seems like the target is a Jewish neighbourhood, because it is."

"Gutless politicians say the words to your boss — not to Twitter."

"If you break the law, you should be punished."

"Apply the law to everyone who breaks it equally. Stop emboldening the anti-Semitism you’ve ignored for 3 months."

Melissa Lantsman, Conservative Member of Parliament

A photo by the group Palesign documenting a blockade of the Avenue Road Bridge in north Toronto. Photo by Veronika Sykoro

"I’ve directly engaged my provincial and municipal counterparts, as well as the @TorontoPolice Chief. Those who commit hate crimes need to be held accountable. Everyone in our cities, our communities and our neighbourhoods has the right to be safe."

"Antisemitism no longer merely lurks in the shadows. It is now increasingly in plain sight. This is a telltale sign of the erosion of respect that we owe to each other, as Canadians. And it needs to stop."

"Police are investigating arson at a Jewish owned business after it was firebombed. Antisemitism in plain sight demands everyone step up their fight. Everyone should stand together to condemn this heinous act and stop the scourge of antisemitism and hate."

MP Marco Mendcino, Liberal Member of Parliament